This invention relates to the field of banking services and, in particular, the field of electronic banking services delivery within the corporate banking arena. More particularly, this invention comprises an electronic delivery infrastructure and applications deployment environment supporting direct end-customer personal computer (PC) access to the full range of corporate banking services. The infrastructure may be accessed either directly over a network, such as the Internet, via extranet direct dial-in or via other private network access methods using standard internet technologies.
International businesses involved in global operations need electronic access to financial services. Their reasons include operational imperatives to have instantaneous access to consolidated information, the global nature of the world""s economies, the inter-dependencies between products and services in one region and another, and the price competitiveness between global entities, the sheer growth and trajectory of information capabilities makes electronic global access to services an axiom. Today""s international businesses clearly understand that they have a need to not only be xe2x80x9cglobally presentxe2x80x9d but also xe2x80x9cglobally aware.xe2x80x9d For institutions, such as international money-center banks, whose business it is to deliver global corporate banking services, effective and efficient electronic delivery is core to their existence.
Developing an effective and efficient electronic delivery of corporate banking services has been a challenge for the industry. From 1975 to 1998, there have been several efforts at developing electronic banking services. Most have been either single product in orientation, single region, and limiting in the technology""s ability to meet even basic needs. In the mid 1970s to the early 1980s, many of the systems were based upon the concept of terminal emulation. In the middle 1980s disk operating system (DOS) workstations became popular, then in the latter 1980s to early 1990s, the technology further shifted from mainframe central processing unit-to-central processing unit (CPU-to-CPU) communications to Windows(copyright) Workstations with proprietary software loaded on the end-client""s machines. All of these, while delivering some measure of functionality, fell far short of the needs as a platform and infrastructure to keep pace with the business needs. What""s worse is that many of these systems still remain today and incur substantial infrastructure, maintenance, and support costs associated with their continued use. In addition, traditional prior art computer systems have several deficiencies that need to be addressed, including the following:
Existing computer systems have high operating costs. Deployment costs are also extremely high. Deployment requires site visits by electronic banking teams, and support costs are also high for software installed on customer sitesxe2x80x94especially for supporting numerous customer operating environments/local area networks (LANs). Software updates often require the dispatch of bank technicians to each customer site for the installation. Existing systems also typically have inferior security, including unreliable hardware-based security solutions. Many systems are not compliant with the latest corporate security standards.
Another problem with the prior art is fragmented product delivery. Many customers have multiple systems in their offices, and each system is specifically focused on delivery of a single product. Platforms capable of integrating across products are rare at best. There are also problems with existing systems because they require extensive time to market. Time-to-market is key to competition, and a one year lead time on new capabilities development is typically needed. The development process requires integration with full release and deployment of new services gated by implementation capability (2-3 months lead time and growing).
Existing systems also have high cost to market. The current per site cost deployment/support for these systems is too high for profitable delivery to new market segments, and this is especially true for third-world emerging markets. Further, the infrastructures of these systems are typically inflexible, and institutions are unable to deliver new products (e.g., image delivery) to customers with existing infrastructures. Another problem with existing systems is that they typically only address generic electronic banking services. Large software systems often lack personalization and customization from the perspective of banking customers, and electronic banking services available to each particular customer need to be tailored to meet the preference and need of each customer. For instance, a small, domestic company may use its bank strictly for paying bills, accounts receivable and payroll. The company would not have a need for any international transactions and would preferably avoid these selections in the interest of saving time.
There is thus a need for a system and method to overcome the problems of the prior art.
In order to overcome the problems of the prior art, as well as other problems, it is an advantage of the present invention to provide a system and method for electronically delivering banking services to end clients and, more particularly, using network, such as Internet based technologies for delivering such services.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide a common electronic delivery infrastructure and application deployment environment capable of delivering an institution""s entire portfolio of corporate banking services to its clients at any time.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide an electronic delivery infrastructure and applications deployment environment supporting direct end-customer personal computer (PC) access to a full range of corporate banking services. Such infrastructure may be accessed either directly over a network, such as the Internet, via extranet direct dial-in or via other private network access methods using standard internet technologies.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide support for multiple access methods, depending on customer requirements.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide use of non-proprietary network (e.g., Internet) enabled devices (e.g., Web browsers) for accessing business applications.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide direct commercial integration with customer processes and systems.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide global data warehouse for information.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide software-based security for encryption and authentication and hardware-based token cards for user access.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide dial-up or through client networks
It is yet a further advantage of the present invention to provide a system and method for transferring data from a remote data entry device, such as that contained in a cellular telephone or a portable computer equipped with a modem, to a receiving station capable of receiving the data transmitted from the remote data entry device via cellular network, satellite, or other wireless communication systems. Data transfer from the receiving station to the remote data entry device is also contemplated.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide a system and method for remote and portable command transmission to a receiving station that is capable of performing tasks in response to data and commands transmitted from a remote data entry device.
It is a further advantage of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of carrying out the methods of the present invention. It is a further advantage for the apparatus to include a data entry device capable of transmitting via a cellular network, satellite, or other wireless communication systems, and the data entry device to include capability for encrypting data or commands entered on the data entry device and capable of transmitting signals that may be received and decrypted by the receiving station into commands capable of being performed by the receiving station.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a system and method for an electronic delivery of infrastructure and applications deployment environment that provides efficient means for delivering an institution""s portfolio of corporate banking services to its clients at anytime. This invention is useful for example, for banking services and, in particular, the field of electronic banking services delivery within the corporate banking arena. The invention includes features that resolve issues presented by prior technology solutions, including the following. The present invention lowers operating costs and improves quality. The invention requires no client visits to install and/or upgrade software, and client-side support is eliminated. The invention improves time and cost to market, as well as facilitates client acquisition. The invention is network centric and therefore facilitates rapid product development, as well as system introduction. The structure of the architecture also eliminates the need for release dependencies.
The invention increases security and reliability, applying both software and hardware based security. The invention also provides users with personalization and customization of services and features available on the system software for consistent look and feel and user-friendly electronic banking services. The invention also improves competitive positioning by providing a single platform for integrated delivery.
The present invention thus provides a method and system for electronically delivering banking services to end clients and, more particularly, using network, such as Internet, based technologies for delivering such services. In particular, the invention relates to a method and system that includes a common electronic delivery infrastructure and application deployment environment capable of delivering an institution""s entire portfolio of corporate banking services to its clients at any time.
To achieve the stated and other objects of the present invention, as embodied and described below, the invention includes a method for providing services over a network from a host to an access location, comprising: providing a plurality of services, the plurality of services accessible by the host; receiving a request for access to the plurality of services from the access location via the network; and installing a local access application at the access location; wherein the plurality of services are accessible at the access location via the local access application and via the host.
To achieve the stated and other objects of the present invention, as embodied and described below, the invention includes a system for providing services over a network, comprising: a host server coupled to the network; a processor accessible by the server, the processor providing a plurality of services; an access program operable over the network; and a local access location coupled to the network; wherein the plurality of services are accessible at the access location via the local access application and via the host. The system may include an infrastructure that comprises: directory of business services and solution packaging, custom menu creator, inbox, user and client preferences, flow control and entitlements, reusable user interface components, local client persistence, business service interface, common reference data, context-sensitive help, transaction monitor, security features, error handling, scalability and load balancing model, and system metrics and monitoring.
Additionally, capabilities that are provided by the method and system of the present invention may include, not exclusively, payments, netting, and reporting. The payments capability can provide connectivity by MCP or branches, and it can provide support for payment funding, auto-funding via OLR, spot contracts. Additionally, the payments capability allows a single point of entry for all payments and may include such instruments as global funds transfers, book transfers, paylink check, paylink GIRO, worldlink factory. It also allows multiple input modes, such as detail entry of information or quick entry via predefined parameters set up by the method or system user, which includes both the host institution and its customers.
The netting capability may provide: transaction initiation with multiple instruments and multiple entry modes, netting processes such as run netting and generating payments, linkage to payments service, integration with no-CASA delivery protocols.
The reporting capability may include: reporting framework, payments reports derived on the payments capability, netting reports derived from the netting capability, balance and transaction reports, and inquiries about balance and transaction, trade, foreign exchange, investments, etc.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become more apparent to those skilled in that upon examination of the following; these features may also be learned by practice of the invention.